The Cardinals should be all-in on Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The right-hander, who's likely to be posted this coming offseason, checks all boxes when it comes to the Cards' desperate need for rotation upgrades

It’s probably foolish to become mentally invested in the Cardinals’ presumed forthcoming efforts to sign a frontline starting pitcher who’s not even officially bound for the market. But, well, here I am – mentally invested and everything. 

I’m speaking of the pitcher I estimate to be the best starter potentially available on the 2023-24 free agent market. This particular stance of mine is premised upon the expectation that Shohei Ohtani will not pitch in 2024 on account of his partially torn UCL. Should that turn out not to be the case, then we can revise accordingly (not that Ohtani is a plausible target for the Cardinals). Said stance also reflects my skepticism toward the top two stateside pending free agents, Aaron Nola and Julio Urías, on account of their declining fastball velocities and strikeout rates. I’m talking about Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.